Hi guys!
So, I think its my time to contribute to the forum after long time lurking tasty Trip Reports here and looking through the best possible way to enjoy SQ by looking through our very own SQ forums.
Background of the trip
Japan.. Japan.. Japan.. Who doesn't love going to this country? I personally fell in love with this country after my last trip in January 2015. From there, I promised myself to go Japan every year (new bucket list!). With this upcoming trip, it will be 3 years in a row I'm going to Japan.
My wife and I actually planned to go there earlier in March / April to enjoy sakura, however with work commitment here and there, our plans dissolved into nothingness..
Then it come the AMEX Velocity Plat. offer on July, where I manage to score lots of points and some more points from friends whom I referred to. With lots of advices from this forum, I manage to score myself enough points for a RT to Japan in SQ First + Business return for my wife and I. So we took the hype train and waitlisted ourselves for a SYD - HND SQ F class + HND - SYD SQ J class this November (autumn trip!).
I love SQ, I have used their economy services a lot, but never once have the guts to upgrade myself for a J or even F trip.
After we waitlisted ourselves, we found out that we're pregnant with our first child! We're have a lot of discussions whether we're still going on this trip or not due to danger / inconvenience of pregnancy during travel. One thing over another, we decided to go ahead with our trip, but we changed timing a bit to early November, so the trip fell right into week 22 of our pregnancy (which is consider safe and better for the mom). Our OB also gives a green lights on the trip! On top of that, I was blessed with more points as more friends signed up for my AMEX referrals. So, here we go... Babymoon (this is what people call it these days?) Trip to Japan!!!
I jumped myself to SQ website to change our flight timing and by chance find ourselves a confirmed Suites + First Class flight to HND, then with extra points, we upgraded our J waitlisted flight to a confirmed First + Suites return from HND to SYD
Happy faces for me as I've dreamed to be on SQ F and Suites! Happy missus with more convenience of flights + happy me finally gets to try my first class product ever!
More background to the trip
But of course, happy times come with hardship as well... I was applying my wife for a partner visa to stay in Sydney and it has been more than a year since the application. Around Sept, we found out that the immigration has rejected my wife's application and she had to go back to her country within 21 days! I freaked out as: 1. She was early in her pregnant, so there is no way I'm letting her to be on a plane back 2. There goes $$$$ of visa application gone down the drain...
The only way out of this is to appeal the decision through tribunals and we hired Barrister to assist us and to prove that we're genuinely married couple (with our first child too) to immigration, so they can grant her the visa to stay here. The barrister cost us fortune as we've just deposit most of our Japan Trip accommodation and spend some for our baby doctor visit, and now our plan to go to Japan is in jeopardy as we have to change a lot to our budget and itinerary....
As we lodge our appeal, we pray hard that her bridging visa is refreshed to stay here so she doesn't have to leave the country soon. With lots of blessings, her bridging is refreshed and her appeal is underway.
The anxiety hits me hard as the rejection did a lot into my mental state for applying visa. I have to apply for her Bridging B visa to get out of the country for the trip and return home + Japan visa to enter Japan. I was so ready to give up the dream trip and cancel every booking related to our trip...
Applying for her visa was like a time ticking bomb as I have mental state that rejection can come anytime. First it was the bridging visa B.. time ticks.. then two weeks before our trip, I have to apply for Japan visa while her bridging B is not granted yet. I gave immigration a call and thank God a day later her bridging visa B is approved!!!
However, the fight is not over yet as there still Japan visa needed to apply. I went full confidence last week applying for her visa, but after I submitted her visa, I made a big mistakes of looking through some forums that mentioned about random rejection for this tourist visa... Again anxiety hits hard.. 1 day.. 2 days.. 3 days.. my wife received a call from Japan embassy regarding her visa, but she missed it! Another anxiety attack.. but we called them back and it looks like her visa is finalised and her passport is ready for collection. The day come where I have to find out whether we go on this trip or not. By grace of God, she is granted 15 days visa to Japan, so the TRIP IS ON!
Despite tight budget we now have (we set this aside for another day worry-ness), we finally ready to go on our dream trip!
As we have been through a lot, so we now looking forward to this trip even more! With that, I decided to share the trip itself with you guys =)
The Trip
This trip report will consist of two main parts:
1. SQ Suites SYD - SIN, then SQ F SIN - HND + SQ F HND - SIN, then SQ Suites SIN - SYD
2. Daily updates of our 12 days in Japan. We'll be going to Tokyo - Kyoto - Nara - Osaka - Hiroshima - Miyajima - Hakone - and back to Tokyo.
I will update this report daily with lots of pictures and some descriptions of our day to day activities.
I will try my best to live-trip-reporting on this thread, but its now H-10 to our dream trip!
Feel free to leave a comment / question for anything related to our trip or if you guys have recommendation on food / maximise SQ F & R experiences, feel free to drop us a tips =D
If you have any request of anything (maybe.. take a photo of private room? ..or information on which movies available in flight entertainment.. anything that we can help you guys) please let us know too =)
Getting closer to the day, I will post update on our pre-trip arrangement too!
H-10 days, Ardeevee out and over.
So, I think its my time to contribute to the forum after long time lurking tasty Trip Reports here and looking through the best possible way to enjoy SQ by looking through our very own SQ forums.
Background of the trip
Japan.. Japan.. Japan.. Who doesn't love going to this country? I personally fell in love with this country after my last trip in January 2015. From there, I promised myself to go Japan every year (new bucket list!). With this upcoming trip, it will be 3 years in a row I'm going to Japan.
My wife and I actually planned to go there earlier in March / April to enjoy sakura, however with work commitment here and there, our plans dissolved into nothingness..
Then it come the AMEX Velocity Plat. offer on July, where I manage to score lots of points and some more points from friends whom I referred to. With lots of advices from this forum, I manage to score myself enough points for a RT to Japan in SQ First + Business return for my wife and I. So we took the hype train and waitlisted ourselves for a SYD - HND SQ F class + HND - SYD SQ J class this November (autumn trip!).
I love SQ, I have used their economy services a lot, but never once have the guts to upgrade myself for a J or even F trip.
After we waitlisted ourselves, we found out that we're pregnant with our first child! We're have a lot of discussions whether we're still going on this trip or not due to danger / inconvenience of pregnancy during travel. One thing over another, we decided to go ahead with our trip, but we changed timing a bit to early November, so the trip fell right into week 22 of our pregnancy (which is consider safe and better for the mom). Our OB also gives a green lights on the trip! On top of that, I was blessed with more points as more friends signed up for my AMEX referrals. So, here we go... Babymoon (this is what people call it these days?) Trip to Japan!!!
I jumped myself to SQ website to change our flight timing and by chance find ourselves a confirmed Suites + First Class flight to HND, then with extra points, we upgraded our J waitlisted flight to a confirmed First + Suites return from HND to SYD
Happy faces for me as I've dreamed to be on SQ F and Suites! Happy missus with more convenience of flights + happy me finally gets to try my first class product ever!
More background to the trip
But of course, happy times come with hardship as well... I was applying my wife for a partner visa to stay in Sydney and it has been more than a year since the application. Around Sept, we found out that the immigration has rejected my wife's application and she had to go back to her country within 21 days! I freaked out as: 1. She was early in her pregnant, so there is no way I'm letting her to be on a plane back 2. There goes $$$$ of visa application gone down the drain...
The only way out of this is to appeal the decision through tribunals and we hired Barrister to assist us and to prove that we're genuinely married couple (with our first child too) to immigration, so they can grant her the visa to stay here. The barrister cost us fortune as we've just deposit most of our Japan Trip accommodation and spend some for our baby doctor visit, and now our plan to go to Japan is in jeopardy as we have to change a lot to our budget and itinerary....
As we lodge our appeal, we pray hard that her bridging visa is refreshed to stay here so she doesn't have to leave the country soon. With lots of blessings, her bridging is refreshed and her appeal is underway.
The anxiety hits me hard as the rejection did a lot into my mental state for applying visa. I have to apply for her Bridging B visa to get out of the country for the trip and return home + Japan visa to enter Japan. I was so ready to give up the dream trip and cancel every booking related to our trip...
Applying for her visa was like a time ticking bomb as I have mental state that rejection can come anytime. First it was the bridging visa B.. time ticks.. then two weeks before our trip, I have to apply for Japan visa while her bridging B is not granted yet. I gave immigration a call and thank God a day later her bridging visa B is approved!!!
However, the fight is not over yet as there still Japan visa needed to apply. I went full confidence last week applying for her visa, but after I submitted her visa, I made a big mistakes of looking through some forums that mentioned about random rejection for this tourist visa... Again anxiety hits hard.. 1 day.. 2 days.. 3 days.. my wife received a call from Japan embassy regarding her visa, but she missed it! Another anxiety attack.. but we called them back and it looks like her visa is finalised and her passport is ready for collection. The day come where I have to find out whether we go on this trip or not. By grace of God, she is granted 15 days visa to Japan, so the TRIP IS ON!
Despite tight budget we now have (we set this aside for another day worry-ness), we finally ready to go on our dream trip!
As we have been through a lot, so we now looking forward to this trip even more! With that, I decided to share the trip itself with you guys =)
The Trip
This trip report will consist of two main parts:
1. SQ Suites SYD - SIN, then SQ F SIN - HND + SQ F HND - SIN, then SQ Suites SIN - SYD
2. Daily updates of our 12 days in Japan. We'll be going to Tokyo - Kyoto - Nara - Osaka - Hiroshima - Miyajima - Hakone - and back to Tokyo.
I will update this report daily with lots of pictures and some descriptions of our day to day activities.
I will try my best to live-trip-reporting on this thread, but its now H-10 to our dream trip!
Feel free to leave a comment / question for anything related to our trip or if you guys have recommendation on food / maximise SQ F & R experiences, feel free to drop us a tips =D
If you have any request of anything (maybe.. take a photo of private room? ..or information on which movies available in flight entertainment.. anything that we can help you guys) please let us know too =)
Getting closer to the day, I will post update on our pre-trip arrangement too!
H-10 days, Ardeevee out and over.
